Skip The Coffee and Pack A Lunch – Two Practical Ways To Cut Personal Spending
The normal way a company increases profits is by driving down costs and increasing revenue. In personal finance, the way that we increase revenue is by securing a higher-paying position. The other side of the coin is to cut costs, or reduce our monthly spending. In our current economic climate in the United States, the latter is much easier than the former. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the most common ways that a person can cut spending in order to increase personal profits each month.
It May Be Hard, But Forgo The Starbucks
You had to have known this would be the first on the list! Starbucks is amazing. [note: the word “Starbucks” can be exchanged with the name of your popular coffee spot). It’s not just the coffee that we love, but it’s the atmosphere. There is a certain vibe at Starbucks that actually makes us feel like working, even if the feeling is faint and barely felt! The smell of fresh coffee, the jazz music, the NY Times at the counter-all of it adds up to give us a nice jolt of energy in the morning, and that’s apart from the jolt that the coffee is about to give us.
Unfortunately, that coffee adds up. The average person spends about $3 per drink at Starbucks. If you visit the shop just 5 days a week, that is $60 per month in Starbucks coffee! So, how can this cost be offset? Well, the most obvious alternative is to go old-school and begin brewing that Starbucks coffee at home in a coffee pot. That will drive your cost down about $50 per month. Not a bad savings.
A second option would be to make the drastic jump from coffee drinker to tea drinker. If it really is the atmosphere that draws you to Starbucks or your favorite coffee shop, consider trying to get of the coffee and begin drinking tea. Not only is it much, much cheaper, but you won’t deal with caffeine withdrawal when you are running too late to make it in the morning. A cup of tea each morning will cost about half, which would lead to a savings of $30 per month.
Pack A Lunch
Another small costs that adds up big time is eating out every day for lunch. It may feel great to get away from the office with a few co-workers and enjoy a nice 1 hour break every day, but the cost on your bottom-line finances can be huge! If you are spending even just $10 per day, that will be about $200 per month spent on lunch food. If you were to pack your lunch every day, not only would it most likely be far healthier, but it would also cost about $40 per month, which is huge savings of $160 per month.
Now, this may be a little on the “tightwad” side of things, but you could still take your packed lunch with your buddies from work to the restaurant every day. You don’t have to stay isolated in your cubicle surfing the web for the forex brokers. The reality is that if you are going with 3 or 4 co-workers, the server at the restaurant is probably not going to make a huge deal out of you eating from your brown paper bag. Although your co-workers may laugh at you for the first few days, you will be laughing at them as you walk to the bank with an extra $160 each month!
These are just two basic examples of how costs can be cut without sacrificing the enjoyment of life. Be creative when considering how you can cut costs and you will be surprised at what you come up with.
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